Frequently Asked Questions

Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR OF THE LAWMAN SERIES – From Cowboy to Police Officer to Soldier to Author

Q: Why do you use a pen name?

A: It doesn’t take an advanced degree in Quantum Physics to figure out I’m really Richard L. Muniz. I’m a former police officer and MP. I’ve worked narcotics, plain clothes investigations, and ran departments. William Ablan is a legal entity and it’s going to be difficult at best to get out from his shadow. The pen name gave me some psychological space from THE events I speak of in my stories. Like most things in fiction, what I write about is grounded firmly in the real world. Often times, reliving it hurts.

Q: Why Will Diaz? Why did you create him?

A: The main character of Will Diaz in my novel series The Lawman is based on me. Like Will, I took a degree in Astrophysics, a career field where people don’t go to the help wanted section to get a job. No, they go to the obits. The year I got my degree, no one was in the mood to lie down and die and make room for me. So, I found myself in the job market with a degree that was almost useless. Of course, running Will and his friends through their adventures gives me a chance to look at events from different perspectives. I know, it sounds a little crazy and it probably is. But I have fun writing him.

Q: Why did you become a police officer?

A: When I got out of college, our favorite uncle started hinting around that it would be nice if I paid back my student loans. I went looking for a job. Fortunately, I was raised a cowboy, was physically tough, and didn’t scare easily. One of the many job applications I put in was with the Alamosa Police Department.

Now the only thing I really knew about police work at the time was from reading Joseph Wambaugh’s The New Centurions. I doubted I was what they were looking for, but when you need a job, you need a job. Sometimes you have step out of your comfort zone.

I tested, took the physical, and went away saying to myself that it would be cold day in you know where when I got hired.

Six months later, I got the surprise of my life. They wanted me, and I was hired. Someone teased me that the reason I got hired was that I would fit into the uniforms of the guy that was leaving. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that was true.

Q: Did you plan on making law enforcement a career.

A: Absolutely not. I considered it a temp job while I waited for what I really wanted to do which was join NASA and fly into space. Twenty years later, I hung up my badge and guns from that temp job. I never did strap on a rocket and ride it into the sky. But being a Police Officer was not wasted time, mind you. During that time, I’d held almost every position out there in Law Enforcement to include undercover narcotics and criminal investigations. I’ve been blessed.

Q: Did you ever regret not getting to ride a rocket?

A: Well, everyone has those dreams we wish would happen. I guess there’s a little Walter Mitty in all of us. But I always remember as a young boy asking God to not let me live a boring life. I just know the minute I made that prayer, God the Father leaned back, smiled, and said, “Ok, Mr. Adventure. Buckle up!” I’ve never been sorry I worked as a police officer or as a soldier. I’ve been through things people would only read about. I really feel the job put more steel into me than I’ll ever know, and it made me who I am today.

Now if Jeff or Elon wants to give me a seat on one of their ships, I wouldn’t say “no.”

Q: You were in the military. Tell me about that.

A: I spent eight years in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman and served with the 1st Armored Division during the Gulf War. I was with the 501st MPs out of Ansbach Germany, and we went with Division to Iraq and partied with Saddam and his band of Merry Men. I really liked the Army.

Q: Why did you get out?

A: I got out of the Army because when I came back to the states from the Gulf War, I found I was a single parent (That’s a whole other story). That tends to put the brakes on a military career. So, I went back into civilian law enforcement. I found myself working for a sheriff who was a rookie I’d trained almost twenty years before. When you find yourself in that position, it’s time to think about getting out of the business. God apparently thought so also, and I spent almost 6 years working Emergency Management, a field that can be so political that I’m not surprised when disasters get totally mishandled. But I learned a lot about how government works on the state and federal level.

Q: in the novels, several of the characters are very well fleshed out. Are they based on people you knew?

A: Some are, some aren’t. Sheriff Tony Madril is of course, Sheriff Toby Madrid. RJ Madril is my old partner in crime, Toby Madrid, Jr. Jewell is based on my wife Julie.

Others like Pam and Terri are conglomerations of almost every female MP or Policewoman I’ve ever known. Jonesy is also almost every male MP I know.

Max is at once the best and worst of humanity all tied up in a nice little ball.

Q: How did you meet Julie.

A: When I came back from the Gulf War, I found myself in the middle of another war. Only this is the kind you need a lawyer for. I’d made an appointment to see my attorney, arrived, and walked in. Sitting behind the desk was the most incredibly, beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Her name was Julie, which means “Youthful spirit.”

I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. A couple of days later, her and I went out for coffee. Like I mentioned in a blog post concerning how two of my characters met, she began twirling around a light post. I fell in love.

I eventually proposed, and she turned me down flat. After numerous rejections, she accepted. I guess she thought I’d go away and stop bothering her. After over thirty years, Julie is still my best friend, and she’s the Love of my Life.

Q: Do you have a day job.

A: I wish I could say that writing has put me on easy street. Not yet. Maybe one day. While working Emergency Management, I built this system that a firefighter out in the field could connect to and get information needed to handle an emergency (chemicals at site, floor plans, you name it). Today, such a system is easy. In the early 1990s, it wasn’t so simple.

When I found out my job was going away, and I told my wife, she asked, “What do we do?”

I told her I’d built up this knowledge on systems and networks, so let’s hang out a shingle. So, imagine if you will, someone running a computer company and hasn’t clue a what TCP/IP is.

But I learned. Today, I’m called an expert (translation: Somebody who knows absolutely nothing about absolutely everything) in IT Operations, Security, Virtualization, and Cloud Technologies.

Q: Do you ever miss Law Enforcement or the Military.

A: Sometimes I miss police work. And I miss the Army. While I was there, I felt like I made a difference. I’m oftentimes asked to ride along with the city, county, and state officers. I always politely decline. I’m afraid if I ever do, I’d discover I miss it too much and want to go back. And I’m way too old start doing that again.